Oakland Visitors' Center Open To The Public! - Ate Inside A Restaurant For The 1st Time In Over A Year! - Dallin Turns One!

Not many wild things happened this week to fill you all in on. BUT I have some very exciting news!! The Visitors Center  is open to the public! We can take people on in-person tours! We got to take multiple people around the VC. It was WONDERFUL. We are finally able to do things in person again. I think we are inching out of the pandemic here a little slower than other places but it really makes me appreciate that things are finally turning around!!

Not much time left so I just am going to send my photos hahaha so sorry!!

1- sis crowley sent me this photo and I felt like I should give her a shout about because she's out of this mission and heading down to Mexico really soon 

2- sis sinema warming up my feet on a cold morning

3- sis sinema!!

4- there is a shake shack in OAKLAND!!!

5- we got like 6 companionships to go the shake shack after service and got to eat in the restaurant! That was the first time I've eaten inside a restaurant since I left for Mexico last year!!

6-   this is hanging on the wall of one of our friends home! The last supper. Beautiful!!

7- canelo the puppy

8- my little ones <3

9- DALLIN TURNS 1 YEAR OLD ON WEDNESDAY!!!! I miss my best friend!!!!! Hes getting so big!!

10- this is me on hold for like 35 minutes with byui trying to get into my own account. So fun.

11- happy birthday last week to mom <3

My Heart Is Beeping - Forever Families - Uncle Ryan & Aunt Adele Visit!

 

It was a successful week but uneventful. But I'll just tell you about the best thing that happened during one of our lessons. Remember Angie and her granddaughter? Well, we started teaching Leilony (the granddaughter). She is quite literally the CUTEST human on this planet. She giggles at everything. I absolutely adore her. We starting talking about baptism and how she can be clean from all the things she wished she didn't do. She thought that was pretty cool. Then we talked to her about the Holy Ghost. How she will have him as a constant friend. Someone to tell her if something is good. Then she said "my heart is beeping right now". We jumped on that and said, "Leilony that's him! You're feeling him right now!" Isn't that the cutest thing? I then felt that I should talk to her about eternal families. And how some day her family can be together forever. That when we die, it isn't the end. She responded with "I'm going to cry". Honestly, the spirit was incredibly strong during this lesson with her. The veil is so thin. This 9 year old girl has the strongest testimony of the Savior. I'm constantly learning from her. This was probably the best lesson of my mission so far. 

So for today, just wanted to piggy back off of what I said to Leilony. Families are meant to be eternal! I'm SO thankful for my mom and dad choosing to be sealed in the temple. That simple choice they made years ago has changed my eternity. Someday, I hope to change the eternity of my own children in the same way. I know that these temples are so sacred. Heaven on earth. I cannot wait until I can go regularly again! 

Con amor,

Hermana Shauna 

1- apparently it's a rumor that vc sisters take a lot of pictures...I'm here to confirm that rumor. 

2- the book is blue, the church us true!

3- sister sinema!!

4- double training isn't too bad with these two;)

5,6- there are random giraffes painted all over around oakland...? idk I just thought they are cute so I took pictures with a few

7- right after the BOMB lesson with Leilony

8- "late night" quesadillas 

9- we went on a walk with the senior missionaries up over the temple!

10- I guess Latinos like their hair to smell like peppers cause I found this at a Hispanic store...?

11- we saw some monks and I wanted to take a picture "with" them

12-then we walked past them and they asked to take a picture WITH US jajaja! Oh how the tables turn. 

13- this adorable hispanic woman ran up to us and told us that she just got out of her first session at the temple and she received her endowment. I feel like I've never seen someone appreciate the temple so much. She was so happy. Truly inspiring. 

14- the temple just looked so nice so here's a photo

15- our friend river! honestly he's the best. he's literally our angel. 

16- so my mom sends me a message and tells me that she's going to have lunch delivered to me today. I'm thinking "oh wow how nice of her!" A few hours later, I'm at the VC (trying to figure out what I'm going to do with my life aka college stuff) and there is a louuuuuud band at the door. I was thinking "okay chill doordash guy". I walked around the corner...and my aunt and uncle were standing outside! WHAT?! So they were my mom's doordash today! We got to chat for a little while. It was so nice to see some people from home. I loved catching up with them. Shout out to Ryan and Adele!

Finally In Person! - In Person Church - In Person Teaching - Singing In Person At Church For First Time In 13 Months As A Missionary

Woah! Time keeps flying by! I know that 13 months isn't one of the "mile markers"...but it's a long time! Each month that goes by I'm shocked at how fast it goes by! Time flies when you're having fun, right? ;)

We had the BEST week! So fun! Full of really really good memories. My #1 highlight was when we had a lesson with our friend, Angie, who is on date to be baptized on May 8. We went to meet her in a park when we noticed that this time she was surrounded by children and with another woman. When we approached them she told us that they were her grandkids and her daughter! We ended up talking to them all and Angie's granddaughter wants to be baptized too! They will be baptized on the same day together. So sweet! We are so excited for them both!!! 

We also got to have church IN PERSON for the first time in a loooooong time! I only have had church in person on my mission one time. So this was SO exciting! This is a huge step for the people here. Getting back to church in person is going to be such a blessing. As I watched old friends greet old friends yesterday, my heart was touched. Many of them shed tears of joy. Seeing dear friends after over a year. I loved being a fly on the wall to witness these sweet and tender reunions. I felt so touched yesterday. As more and more continue to return to the in person meetings, I look forward to watching more of these moments. 

I just want to share a thought I have been having a lot lately but it hit me really hard yesterday. Music. The power of music is incredible. It feels like when I listen to a song I turn over my rights to control my feelings because I am instantly feeling the feelings of that song. Music is SO powerful. I'm grateful that as a missionary I have the opportunity to fill my ears constantly with beautiful songs. I always feel happy and the mood is lightened when I listen to these sacred songs. Yesterday, during sacrament meeting, I got to sing with a congregation of saints in Spanish for the first time in my life. I have never had the opportunity to do so before. I literally can not describe what that felt like for me. The spirit was so strong. As I sat there listening to the most beautiful lyrics being sung by some of the most angelic people I have ever met, I had the strongest confirmation that THIS place, THIS is where I need to be. I felt that this church is true. And that I am doing the work of the Lord. 

I hope that you all can have a similar experience to the one I had. It was a tender mercy for me. 

Good luck with your week everyone!

Les quiero, con todo mi corazón,

Hermana Shauna

1- I've become a parallel parking master. Thanks California.

2- meet our new friend, Obrayan! He's from Cuba! Lucky him, he got a VIP grounds tour with some of the best Sisters out there!

3- Oakland=pretty buildings :)

4- waiting for a friend to show up to a lesson!!

5- if you haven't had pupusas, do yourself a favor and go find a place to try them. 

6- this place has the BEST pupusas that I have found so far

7- I love that the bay area is so full of street art. A colorful city for sure :)

8- angie and her granddaughter, laylani <3

9- exchanges with the greatest!! sister burch!!

10- cutest woman who ran up to us at the temple. she served in the MTC in Mexico City!! 

11- we met the CUTEST family from India on Saturday!

12- they even invited us over to have dinner with them!! 

13- the man in the red started yelling "las hermanas celestiales!!!" when we starting walking towards him :)

14- the view I get to see from the temple so frequently <3

Best Friend Tifa Called to My Mission! - Tifa's First Transfer in Oakland/San Francisco Will be My Last - Waiting on COVID Test Results

After a long week, we got covid tested on Friday.  I thought I was going to be able to make it through my entire mission without getting covid tested...well in the last few months I had to get tested. We got rapid tested on Friday morning and they said we would get an email the next day with our results.  Well, they didn't come on Saturday.  Then on Sunday we got an email saying "sit tight. Your results will be sent to you in the next few days".  Sooooooooo we still haven't received our "rapid" test results.  So funny.

Don't know how many of you saw on my Facebook but my BEST FRIEND, TIFA, just opened her mission call...to...THE CALIFORNIA OAKLAND/SAN FRANCISCO MISSION SPEAKING TONGAN!!!!! So that was EASILY the highlight of my week! For those of you who didn't see, she starts the MTC June 23 then, Tifa *Sister Kioa* will be joining me here on August 4 and I will head home in September. We will have 6 weeks together in the same mission. Her first transfer here will be my last. Tender. So excited for her and for the choice she made to serve. She is going to make a HUGE impact on the people here. I have no doubt about it. She is such an incredible person. I can't wait to share a piece of my heart with her.

Many people have been asking me lately how I feel about being here. Obviously, it is not what I originally had wanted or hoped for. This situation has not been ideal, but what I am doing here has such a great importance. I know this message I have shared the past while has touched lives, and hopefully changed a few. I know that if I had been in Costa Rica the past 9 months it would be the same. Lives would be touched regardless of location. However, the past two weeks I have been having the strongest feeling that there was another reason that I was in THIS mission. This specific mission. I was talking to one of my mission leaders about this last Monday night. Then, the next day Tifa sent me the video of her opening her call to serve in THIS mission! It was yet another testament to me that God knows me. He knew that I needed another special connection to this place. I can't describe what it means to me to share something so special and sacred as my mission with someone so close to my heart. Tifa has always been a great Christlike example of love to me. I admire everything about her. Her mission call was an answer to my prayers. 

God knows EACH and every single one of us! He ANSWERS our prayers! Never did I think this would be one of the ways He would answer mine, but it was! He knows me better than I know myself. He knows what I need. I'm so thankful for a father in heaven who knows me and loves me.

Have a great week everyone!!

Hermana Shauna

1- pass along cards!!

2-stopped to smell the flowers :))

3- vaccinated but still wearing masks haha #california

4- we went on a pretty hike in the mountains by our house!

5- mis companeras    

6- this SUPER creepy truck just had a mannequin chilling in the passenger's seat

7- me and tifa at my farewell. miss her. but we will see each other soon, AS MISSIONARIES